Beach's Piano Quintet

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1908, the Hoffman String Quartet gave a recital at Boston’s Potter Hall, opening their program with a Romantic classic, Robert Schumann’s String Quartet from 1842, followed by much more modern fare — Debussy’s String Quartet written in 1893.

And to close their program, the Hoffman Quartet premiered a brand-new contemporary work: a piano quintet by American composer Amy Beach, with the composer at the piano.

The Boston Globe’s critic noted “the audience was of goodly proportions and very demonstrative in its appreciation of Mrs. Beach’s composition,” but (critics being critics), did a little nit-picking, concluding, “The work is thoroughly good, though a little too choppy at times.”

The critic from The Boston Evening Transcript had fewer nits to pick, writing: “The quintet begins in the luminous key of F-sharp minor, and throughout Mrs. Beach modulates freely … [she] has sought a modern sonority of utterance … Her rhythms spurred the ear, and her harmonies [have] tang and fancy … In imagination, feeling, and expression, it is distinctly rhapsodic. Mrs. Beach can think musically in truly songful melodies, and such are the themes of her new quintet.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Amy Beach (1867-1944): Piano Quintet; Garrick Ohlsson, piano; Takács Quartet; Hyperion CDA-68295

On This Day

Births

• 1848 - English composer Hubert Parry, in Bournemouth

Deaths

• 1887 - Russian composer Alexander Borodin, 53, at a fancy dress ball in St. Petersburg (Julian date: Feb. 15)

Premieres

• 1729 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 159 (Sehet, Wie gehn Hinauf gen Jerusalem) probably performed in Leipzig on Estomihi Sunday as part of Bach’s fourth annual Sacred Cantata cycle (to texts by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a.k.a. “Picander”) during 1728/29

• 1737 - Handel: opera Giustino, in London (Julian date: Feb. 16)

• 1740 - Handel: oratorio L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato, in London at Lincoln’s Inn Field, with the premiere of Handel’s Organ Concerto in Bb, Op. 7, no. 1 (Gregorian date: Mar. 9)

• 1814 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 8, in Vienna, with composer conducting

• 1908 - Amy Beach: Piano Quintet, at Boston's Potter Hall, with the Hoffmann Quartet and the composer at the piano

• 1913 - Walter Damrosch: opera, Cyrano de Bergerac, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City

• 1915 - Miaskovsky: Symphony No. 3, in Moscow (Julian date: Feb. 14)

• 1940 - William Schuman: String Quartet No. 3, at Town Hall in New York City, by the Coolidge Quartet

• 1945 - Amy Beach: opera Cabildo, by the Opera Workshop at the University of Georgia in Athens, directed by Hugh Hodgson. The first professional production occurred on May 13, 1995, at Alice Tully Hall in New York City as a Great Performances telecast conducted by Ransom Wilson.

• 1947 - Hindemith: Piano Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell conducting, with Jesús Maria Sanromá the soloist

• 1947 - Peter Mennin: Symphony No. 3, by the New York Philharmonic, Walter Hendel conducting

• 1949 - Elliott Carter: Woodwind Quintet, at Times Hall in New York City, at a new music concert of the National Association for American Composers and Conductors, sharing a program with Henry Cowell’s Suite for Wind Quintet, Vincent Perischetti’s Pastorale, Richard Franko Goldman's Duo for Tubas, Ingolf Dahl’s Music for Five Brass Instruments, and a revised version of Carl Ruggles’ Angles for seven brass instruments

• 1949 - Wm. Schuman: Symphony No. 6, by the Dallas Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting

• 1950 - Elliott Carter: Cello Sonata, at Town Hall in New York, by cellist Bernard Greenhouse and pianist Anthony Markas

• 1958 - Peter Mennin: Piano Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchesttra conducted by George Szell, with Eunice Podis the soloist

• 1984 - Libby Larsen: Parachute Dancing for orchestra, by the American Composers Orchestra, Tom Nee conducting

• 1986 - U. Zimmermann: opera Weisse Rose (White Rose), in Hamburg by the Opera stabile

• 1999 - Peter Lieberson: Horn Concerto, at Carnegie Hall, with soloist William Purvis and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Others

• 1885 - First documented American performance of Handel’s Concerto Grosso No. 12, by the Boston Symphony, William Gericke conducting